Fibblestax

Devin Scillian
Illustrated by Kathryn L. Darnell

Sleeping Bear Press, 2000
$15.95 hardcover
32 pages

I dreamed again of Fibblestax,
sitting among his books...

Fibblestax is the person who makes up all the words and names for everything around us. Before Fibblestax, however, there was another man, named Carr, who was not very good at the job. Fibblestax liked to think of better names for things, which made Carr angry.

Finally Carr challenges Fibblestax to a contest which the whole town will judge. Will the water that falls from the sky be droog or rain? Will the square crunchy things we eat with soup be poonies or crackers? And what about a certain, special feeling . . .? Carr doesn't know, but Fibblestax has an answer.

Fibblestax is a decent idea but poorly done rhyming picture book, with awkward rhythms and rhymes that too often dictate the action and description. Straight prose would have been the wiser choice, freeing author Devin Scillian to address the weaknesses and inconsistencies in his plot. For example, Scillian first declares Fibblestax to be "the one who gives a name to every single thing," and then immediately introduces his predecessor Carr; and if Fibblestax can rename some of Carr's poor inventions, why not all of them?

On the other hand, Kathryn Davis's illustrations are quite beautiful, but clever detail and the subtle shades of her colored pencils do not make up for Scillian's disappointing story.

Reviewed by Wendy Morris. © 2001 by Wendy Morris.

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